As we close in on Miller Time around these parts, here’s a round up of a few of the day’s top stories that for one reason or another your humble editors considered–but ultimately rejected–for individual posts today.

Aerialist Injured at Beverly Center

Our condolences to the injured aerialist. (Watch for my new band, coincidentally, also called Injured Aerialists. We kind of sound like late-early Radiohead.) Let us join in the chorus–the Hunky Santa and the Candy Cane Girls show must go on! And, apparently, it will, this Friday.

»continue reading End of Day Odds & Ends: Aerialist Injured, Dead Resurrected, Busey Disrespected, Ninjas Dissected

HEADS UP

Charlie Hunter w/ Eric Kalb & Alan Ferber @ The Mint
Fri 12/4
[ENTER TO WIN FRIDAY]

Charlie Hunter w/ Eric Kalb & Alan Ferber @ The Mint
Sat 12/5
[ENTER TO WIN SATURDAY]

Charlie Hunter Guitar Seminar @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop Sun 12/6

Check out Sung’s set of the Charlie Hunter Trio at The Mint from about a year ago here.

Bruins Women’s Volleyball Earns #8 National Seed, Will Host First and Second Rounds

»continue reading Awesome Holiday Weekend for UCLA Bruin Athletics

PICK OF THE WEEK

The Vic Chesnutt Band
fea. Guy Picciotto & Members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor & Silver Mt. Zion
w/ Warpaint & Liz Durrcett
Tuesday, December 1
Echoplex | Info
 

Little Dragon
w/ Hecuba
Friday, December 4
El Rey Theater
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]
 

The Cranberries
w/ Griffin House
Friday, December 4
Club Nokia
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]
 

West Coast, Left Coast
Songs of the Sun
w/ Brian Wilson, Dave Alvin, The Living Sisters, and Harper Simon
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]
 
 
 

Califone live & screening of the feature-length film All My Friends Are Funeral Singers @ Hammer Museum Wed 12/9
McCabe’s Holiday Show @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop (free) Sun 12/13
John Doe @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop Fri 12/11
Rural Alberta Advantage @ Bootleg Theater Tue 12/15
Papa M (David Pajo) @ The Stronghold, Venice Fri 12/18
Kid Cudi @ Club Nokia Wed 12/23
Kid Cudi @ Club Nokia Tue 12/22
3rd Annual Christmas Sweater Festival The Deadly Syndrome, The Pity Party, Eskimohunter, Signals, 400 Blows and special guests @ El Rey Sat 12/19
Al Kooper @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop Sun 1/10
Al Kooper @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop Sat 1/9
James Taylor & Carol King @ Hollywood Bowl Sat 5/15
James Taylor & Carol King @ Hollywood Bowl Fri 5/14
 

WEDNESDAY
J. Tillman (Fleet Foxes) @ Troubadour

THURSDAY
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band @ Spaceland

FRIDAY
Charlie Hunter @ The Mint
Fink (Fin Greenall) @ Spaceland
Little Dragon w/ Hecuba @ El Rey
Morrissey @ The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas
Peter Case @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop
The Cranberries w/ Griffin House @ Club Nokia

SATURDAY
Charlie Hunter @ The Mint
Disney’s Imagination Movers @ Club Nokia (1:30 pm show)
Disney’s Imagination Movers @ Club Nokia
Fishbone, Less Than Jake, Cage, The Swellers & screening of the Warped Tour 15th Anniversary Movie @ Glass House
Frank Stallone @ Viper Room
Girls @ Troubadour
Stellastarr* @ Spaceland

SUNDAY
Charlie Hunter Guitar Seminar @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop
Cold Cave @ The Echo
West Coast, Left Coast: Songs of the Sun with Brian Wilson, Dave Alvin, The Living Sisters, and Harper Simon @ Disney Concert Hall

Breaking news out of Television City in the Fairfax District:

Several Bob Seger songs are to be featured in an upcoming episode of the U.S. drama series “Cold Case,” CBS said.

“In the episode, entitled ‘Iced,’ the team tries to determine who murdered a minor league ice hockey player on the memorable night that the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics,” the network said in a news release.

The episode will feature Seger recordings including “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man,” “Her Strut,” “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” “Roll Me Away,” “Night Moves,” “Fire Down Below” and “Against the Wind.”

“Bob Seger’s raw, honest voice is so evocative of working class America that the idea for an episode centered around the Miracle on Ice seemed like the perfect showcase for his songs,” Taylor Elmore, who wrote this “Cold Case” episode, said in a statement. “A lot of Seger songs are about missed chances and lost opportunities. They’re about mistakes made in the past and their consequences in the present — which in many ways is a theme of our show, and particularly this episode.”

The episode will air December 13.

Regarding the album Stranger In Town, the cover of which is the above classic photo of Bob, taken in the Hollywood Hills in 1978:

“I had to stay in LA for 2 and 1/2 months [while recording the album]. I rented a house for the second month and a half…it was up in the Hollywood Hills and every night when we’d get back from the studio.

“I would look out and there would be all the lights of the city. I was just sitting there one night with an electric guitar, and I started bashing it out. And there it was.” -Late 1981 radio interview. [From SegerFile.com]

Seattle native, current Los Angeles resident, musician, aspiring filmmaker, YouTube sensation and internationally known Rock Band bad-ass, Freddie Wong will be one of a team of 14 taking part in The Rock-A-Thon, a four-day, record-breaking, fund-raising event taking place in Houston starting Friday.

Here’s how it will go down:

»continue reading Freddie Wong to Represent L.A. in Rock Band World Record Marathon

The Slash surprise guest appearance is fast becoming something of a running sitcom gag on the LA rock scene. Think of Kramer bursting through Jerry’s door, but with a ’59 Les Paul around his neck to lay down some sweet licks.

Coming off recent “surprise” appearances with Avenge Sevenfold, ZZ Top, the Black Eyed Peas and Alice Cooper, Slash stuck again, joining both Wolfmother at The Wiltern (thanks, Rob) AND Joe Perry last night at the Sunset Strip House of Blues. Reports of the HOB show, however, contain the two most dreaded words in the world of rock n’ roll–gulp–reggae version.

So will Slash join KISS tonight at Staples? And then head over to The Mayan to do the encore with Simian Mobile Disco? Check this link tomorrow: “Slash” + “surprise appearance”.

Breaking news out of Westwood, where the UCLA Bruin statue has been found splattered with gaudy ketchup- and mustard-colored paint. The protective casing, which is applied each year in the week leading up to the UCLA-USC rivalry football match, was apparently easily cut through by the vandals. We’ve been saying for years what they need is an advanced infrared laser defense shield around the statue, not the flimsy picnic tarp they have been using for protection. Maybe now they’ll learn.

Crime scene photo from KTLA.

HEADS UP

Papa M (David Pajo) w/ Jason Simon (Dead Meadow) @ The Stronghold, Venice Fri 12/18

David Pajo, legendary guitar player of Slint, Tortoise, Stereolab, Bonnie ‘Prince’
Billy, Royal Trux and, currently, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will play his record Live from a Shark Cage

Zack over at Lost Angeles is asking for a little help.

He’s the creator of the beautifully-named “Zack and White”–an ice cream sandwich made with Canter’s Black and White cookies. It’s fucking brilliant.

As a B&W aficionado myself, I encourage people to order the “Zack” next time they’re hungover and inexplicably find themselves at Canter’s.

If enough people request the sandwich, Canter’s has promised Zack the holy foodie blog grail: a spot on their menu. Good luck, dude.

Instructional photo from Lost Angeles.

We’re sure you’ve all already made your daily stop over at TheGrimSleeper.com, your #1 Grim Sleeper resource on the Web, what with all the renewed interest in the case, but we just got turned onto it.

They have created a unique composite sketch of what the suspect may look like today, some 20 years after the released drawing of the suspect, assembled from 1988 witness accounts.

Whether or not this alternate rendering is actually helpful or merely obfuscates the search, remains to be seen. Perhaps the unflattering sketch is a shot at his vanity and he steps forward to show us all how well he has actually aged.

UPDATED 11/25: The updated sketch rendering has been taken down to avoid any potential confusion in the case. We’ll keep up the original for the time being. Keep an eye on TheGrimSleeper.com for the latest on the case.

Serial killers are such a bummer, so let’s lighten the mood with this never-not-funny classic screenshot of KABC’s Mark Brown:

(If you or someone you know photographed this widely-circulated classic Mark Brown TV screenshot, please write in, we’d like to hear the story behind it and give you proper credit.)